An account of Nepalese Fundraising 15th and 16th May
I am sure by now you have heard about the earthquake in Nepal? It is a completely different experience when disasters happen to something so close to you. When the whole world heard of Nepal and the impact of the devastating earthquake, shook us all. People from different communities and companies gathered to help and so did the University of the West of England Nepalese Network (UWENN).
Like any form of fundraising we started with raffles, cake sale and Henna tattoos which was held in UWE,Frenchay. During the 16th of May we fundraised around College Green and had a lot of wonderful people show empathy and donated money for the relief. Our main highlight of the event was the Candle vigil where true unity was shown with the presence of Dr.Shaheen Chaudhry JP – former High Sherriff of Bristol,Canon Nicola Stanley-Precentor of Bristol Cathedral, Mark Behard of Soki Gakkai International,Kelsang Chonden of the Amitabha Buddhist Centre,George Mazidian of the Baha’i community and Andrew Owen, Associate Chaplain at UWE shared with us positive messages and prayers of hope and peace. The get together from various religious chaplin’s showed genuine response and proved that all religion and faith’s can exist in perfect harmony.
We cannot emphasize enough how overwhelmed we are for the love and support we got during this period. We really wish to thank Pippa Hayland- you really are a star,Ian Yemm-you made the candle vigil possible and Anna Kawar- for your prompt action. With everyone’s help we managed to raise £1649.51,which is going to Nepalshare (Nyano Sansar). Nepalshare is non-profit organizations that are working on the worst affected areas of Nepal distributing tents, foods and sanitary products to the victims. They are also the only organization with official permission to do a Helicopter relief drop in the affected areas.
What happened to Nepal was unforeseen but the people in my country are survivors and are working hand in hand to built a better Nepal.Also,let us not wait for another disaster to help one another.Dalai Lama once said, “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. Let’s built this world in kindness and work in unity for a better future.
By Samiksha Gurung